The Open AI Foundation is funding a new effort called Public Data for Health to create high-quality scientific datasets for AI in medicine. Ruxandra Teslo proposed using data from failed biotech companies, obtained through bankruptcy proceedings, to train AI copilots for the drug approval process. The foundation awarded her idea $500,000, which will be pursued by 1Day Sooner, an advocacy group she advises.

In its initial round of data grants, the Open AI Foundation also gave $40 million to a program collecting data on novel cancer vaccines at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and supported Open Admet, a group running competitions to predict drug effects. "Everyone is recognizing that data is the biggest bottleneck in successfully applying AI to biology," says Morgan Levine, a former vice president for computation at Altos Labs.

The foundation, based in San Francisco, plans to give away $1 billion by year-end. Its largest gift so far, $100 million, went to the Common Health Coalition for hepatitis C drug access. Open AI started as a nonprofit but was restructured by Sam Altman into a for-profit corporation planning a potential $1 trillion IPO. The foundation holds a 26% equity stake in Open AI, potentially sitting on $250 billion in stock value.

Open AI's charitable efforts come amid apocalyptic fears about runaway AI. Last week, Altman and x AI founder Elon Musk endorsed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow AI capability improvements so risk prevention can catch up.